Christianity: History, Beliefs, and Impact on the Roman World

Posted on Dec 8, 2024 in Religion

Christianity: A Historical Overview

The Triune God created man out of love and made him free, in His own image and likeness. Man, in his freedom, failed to love God, and God reiterated the promise of salvation. God sent His own Son for the salvation of all mankind. In the person of Jesus Christ, God became part of humanity. The Word was made flesh. God, through Jesus, takes up the story to rescue from the human condition all who fell in Adam (the mystery of the Incarnation in terms of the mystery of redemption). God chose the people of Israel as His people, and from them, the Messiah would be born. In Bethlehem, Jesus was born in the year 748 of the Foundation of Rome. Thus, God takes the two coordinates of the story: time and space. God dwells with humanity through the Emmanuel (God with us). God shares the past, present, and future of man. The Christian God is not an idea, not a myth or an object, but a person.

The Height of the Times

The Roman Empire emerged shortly before the birth of Christ. During the reign of Octavius Augustus (30 BC – 14 AD) and his immediate successors, the empire became more widespread. It encompassed the lands of the Mediterranean, as well as parts of Gaul and Britain. The Rhine and the Danube formed its continental borders. The 1st century AD is both the culmination of the power of the Roman Empire and the beginning of its slow decay. At the time of Christ’s birth, Palestine belonged to the Roman Empire. Within the vast Roman Empire, the Palestinian corner was only an insignificant part. Caesar had almost unlimited power over the whole empire. However, the administration was measured. The provinces enjoyed a certain autonomy. The central point, the capital, and at the same time the model of the whole empire was Rome, the Eternal City, a true wonder of the world. And as an idea, Rome was a real power, which exerted enormous influence throughout ancient times, of great importance even for the Church, sometimes positive but also negative.

The Roman World

a. In Rome concurred a multicolored array of the empire. The spiritual side of the city was not uniform. Rome was a pagan establishment. It was full of temples, but these were only abodes of the images of the gods, places of worship (the worship was held at the gate). The Capitol and the Forum were the real center of the city where the laws were enacted, sentences were passed, and political life ran its course, which had to be made until the official liturgy.

b. There were majestic palaces, luxurious and refined, and at an increasing pace, they began to be centers of great life. There were theaters and amphitheaters, where all kinds of immoral art and cruelty celebrated their victories. But there was no love of neighbor, to accept the poor and sick. It lacked the strength to transform life.

c. Immorality penetrated deeper and deeper into all circles. A sybaritic luxury and refined exaggeration shook hands with a chilling disregard for human life, especially the life of the lower strata of the slaves. Always an impressive proof of this was the frequent gladiatorial combat. Even in times of Emperor Titus (79 – 81), the preferred of gods and men, many thousands of men were slaughtered in such struggles (2,500 only in Caesarea, after the destruction of Jerusalem).

d. In civil settlements and military garrisons, life flowed on the model of Rome. The empire was, in some ways, a multiplication of Rome. Preparing the world for the coming of Christ, “When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son” (Galatians 4:4). If Christ came to earth when humanity was ready to welcome it, we must conclude that this “fullness of time” refers to environmental circumstances, culture, religion, politics, etc., in which the seed of Christianity was to germinate. At the time of the coming of Christ, three peoples stood out from the crowd: Jews, Greeks, and Romans. Christianity is a religion, not a culture, but culture and religion always have very close relations.

Preparation of the Jewish People for Christ’s Coming

The Jewish people’s historical importance lies in their religion. When the Messiah came, the Jews had finally overcome their long-standing idolatrous tendencies, but the Jewish people had not been entirely faithful to the destiny that God entrusted to them because they choked and sterilized the most substantive of their religion, mistaking their political aspirations. Monotheism and the idea of a liberating Messiah are the positive elements that Judaism offered to nascent Christianity. Two obstacles were Jewish nationalism, which considered Christianity as something exclusive, against the universalism of the Gospel message, and hypocritical piety, which expressed itself only on the outside of law enforcement and did not appreciate the demands of good interior intention, which is essential to Christianity.

Preparation of the Pagan World for Christ’s Coming

a) In the pagan religion, it can be most clearly seen that preparation to accept the Christian message: pagan worship environments, long before the coming of Christ, had realized the absurdity of polytheism. And, in return, they took refuge in:

A religion without gods.
Religious indifference.

Through the influence of religions and mystery cults of the Orient that exalted fantasy and religious sentiment, aspirations had been growing in paganism to:

A renewal of the world through a Savior.
Waiting for a Deliverer, between Jews, had also spread to the pagan world. Virgil had been his interpreter. The Sibyl announced the coming of a baby from heaven, carrying a golden age for the world (Eclogue, IV, 4 – 10).
A universal religion characterized by the ideas of revelation and redemption.

b) Philosophy: Many people in Greco-Roman paganism found a substitute for religion in philosophy. Along with many fake items, Greek philosophy had great contributions that could lead to Christianity:

Plato had come to identify the supreme idea of right with God.
Aristotle had discovered the first unmoved mover and self-conscious idea of absolute spirit.
Christianity found among men not only Greek skeptics, with no religion and no faith in the divinity, but also philosophers oriented interiorly with many points of contact with Christian ethics.
The most educated Christians of the early centuries, e.g., Clement of Alexandria, believed that “philosophy had led the Greeks, as the law led the Jews, toward Christ.”
The same speculative forces of the Greeks would be a valuable aid in the development of Christian mental categories capable of satisfying the most demanding understandings.

But on the other hand, we must also admit that in the same philosophical temperament of the Greeks lies the danger of trying to rationalize much of the truths of faith.

c) The Roman Empire: Almost all historians agree in saying that the Roman Empire was one of the key elements in preparing the world for the coming of Christ. Melito of Sardis (+ 175) said that Christianity and the Roman Empire had been ordained by Providence to each other. Certainly, the Roman Empire, in some respects, was beneficial to emerging Christianity:

First, its religious tolerance, particularly for the Jewish people, in whose shadow Christianity initially spread in the Empire’s borders.
Political unification: Diversity of peoples within a state agency.
Hellenistic cultural unity: the East and West had a common mode of thinking and a common vehicle of expression: Koine Greek.
Intense trade, fast means of communication that made possible the exchange of ideas and goods.
The same organization of the empire into provinces, dioceses, etc., and the very idea of unity of the Empire served as a model for the organization of the Church.

But one should not overly praise the benefits of the Roman Empire to Christianity, for the Empire, as such, constituted a serious danger to the infant Church:

The persecutions of the first three centuries would not have been so devastating.
Christianity would not have been a religio illicita in regions as distant and culturally disparate if there had been various political bodies.

We will have to say that everything is relative to time. Both the Jewish cultural environment, such as Greek or Roman, brought their advantages and disadvantages to early Christianity. All that can be said with absolute certainty is that mankind walked anxiously looking for salvation and that only Christ was able to fully satisfy that craving: “Those who once were always giving to the arts of magic, now we have set ourselves apart for the good God and innate” (St. Justin).

Jewish Environment in the Time of Jesus

1. The Land and the Language

A. The Land

a) Extension and Population The kingdom, greatly enlarged by the policy of Herod, comprised Galilee, Samaria, and Judea, south of Edom, to the west, across the Jordan, except for the Decapolis, the “ten cities” Hellenized, located near Lake Gennesaret. It had the extension of Belgium (30,000 km2) and a population of two or three million Jews.

b) The Two Foci: Judea and Galilee The two foci of Judaism at this time were Judea and Galilee. Unfortunately, they were separated from one another by the schismatic Samaria.

Judea was the center of Jewish life and was also more impervious to Greek penetration. Jerusalem was in the center, then Bethlehem, Emmaus, etc.
Galilee, resettled by Jews in the last century, had become a denser and richer province. The main town was Tiberias, which Herod, the builder, had founded in honor of Tiberius, a city half-Jewish, semi-pagan in which Jesus seems never to have entered. In the midst of the country were Nazareth, Cana, Mount Tabor, and on the lake were Capernaum, Magdala, etc. The Galileans were a warlike people. Their faith, though it was not too deep, happily remained closed to the complications of all cases in which they indulged in Jerusalem.

Note: The Pagan Danger After some time, the face of the country changed. Pagan invasion had begun under the protection of kings, and Greco-Roman civilization dominated the western part where it had its temples, its false gods, theaters, and stadiums. It flourished in the Decapolis and around Lake Galilee and threatened, even without entering, the heart of Judea.

B. Language

a) The Old For many centuries, Hebrew, which had happened to the Canaanites, was the only language of Palestine. Even after the exile, it was still commonly spoken.

b) The New But little by little, another Semitic language, richer, more flexible, a conqueror, was introduced among the Jews: Aramaic. Coming from a town of the same name, east of Jordan, Aramaic spread throughout the East: Syria, Babylonia, to the Persian Gulf.

After the exile, it coexisted with Hebrew in Palestine. Under this regime of bilingualism, Hebrew was the language of the ancestors of the Law, of the liturgy, and Aramaic was the language commonly spoken.
From the second century, the people needed to have the Scripture reading in the synagogue translated. Hebrew had become a dead language and had taken refuge in schools. Aramaic was the language of our Lord and the first disciples; it was the means of expression of early teaching or preaching the Gospel. Unfortunately, for lack of documents, we know it imperfectly.

2. Religious Organization

A. Religious Practices Major religious practices were:

The circumcision ceremony by which men were added to the people of God.
The observance of the Sabbath.
The pilgrimage to Jerusalem on the great feasts.
The public fast on the Day of Atonement (and private fasts by pious souls).
The purification of the hands or body on certain occasions; Jews regularly washed their hands before taking their food, to purify the stains still contracted involuntarily.
The prayer, on rising and at bedtime for men, three times a day for all the Israelites, and also before and after meals.
Finally, alms and charity.

B. Religious Festivals There were three major festivals:

Passover commemorated above all the liberation from Egypt. On that day, the Jews were in Jerusalem in a crowd (in 64, it was estimated at three million the number of pilgrims). The ceremony began with the Easter dinner that took place the previous evening. It lasted eight whole days.
Pentecost, fifty days later, remembered the enactment of the Law and consecrated the first fruits of the harvest.
Finally, the Feast of Tabernacles, in memory of the permanence of the Hebrews in the desert, took place at the time of harvesting of fruits and for eight days was of a cheerful nature.

C. Temple and Synagogues In addition to the only place of worship and sacrifice, it should be noted the synagogue. Born of the customs of exile, religious meetings on Saturday became gradually a regular institution. They were held in all cities of Palestine and even in the dispersion, in rooms called synagogues (from the Greek word synagoge – meeting). The synagogue was a rectangular room. At the bottom, there was a cabinet-shaped ark containing the scrolls of the Law. In the center, facing the audience, was the stage with the desk for the reader or preacher. A president, a Doctor of Law, addressed the assembly. They prayed, read Scripture, which an interpreter translated into Aramaic, and then one of the most prominent participants pronounced a homily. A synagogue was often attached to a school where children learned the Torah.

4. Social and Political Organization

Above the village, the theocratic social castes were the home: priests, among them the high priest, and the scribes. In addition, political and religious parties divided the spirits: the two main ones were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. At last, the government acted, in addition to the Roman ruler – Prince Herodian or solicitor – an indigenous body, the Sanhedrin. A word about each of these elements.

A. The High Priest was the leader of the nation, the highest legal authority in civil and religious matters. The high priest also exerted a major influence in temporal affairs. As head of the Sanhedrin, the chief magistrate of the Jewish state, his political authority was limited only by the attorneys or foreign kings.

Note: Theoretically, the charge was for life and conferred an indelible character. Herod the Great, and then the Roman procurators, appointed and deposed the headlines to their liking. After the demise of the Hasmonean princes, both kings and popes, the candidates were chosen from some particularly influential families in Jerusalem. In the time of Christ, Annas had cornered the charge for his family. High Priest from 6 to 15 AD, he preserved in the future a significant influence. Five of his sons and his son-in-law, named Caiaphas, succeeded him. Caiaphas was kept from year 18 to 36 and appears to have been more than an instrument in the hands of his stepfather.

B. The Priests To ensure the service of the temple, there was a large and hierarchical priestly college that included priests and Levites.

a) The task of the priests, as well as their science, was limited to very complicated liturgical functions. Some of them often relied on a permanent basis on trades, particularly important. These “chief priests” were residing in Jerusalem and formed the priestly aristocracy. Others residing in the city or around the offices were chosen by lot. The representatives of the higher clergy, too rich, were more concerned with increasing their revenues than developing the religious sentiment of the people. They formed the core of the Sadducee party.

b) As for the Levites, worship assistants and managers of the physical preservation of the temple, they lived obscurely and had no influence.

C. Besides the priests, the scribes formed a very important breed of pious laypeople who were interested in the study of the law. Thanks to their knowledge, they conquered influence on the people, supplanting the clergy and becoming the Masters (“rabbi”) of Israel. Thus, they became part of the Sanhedrin. All their activities were devoted to discussing the Law to find in it, often at the cost of legal acrobatics and scriptural answers to all problems of the time, political, social, and religious. These “doctors of the Law” were the core of the Pharisee party.

D. The Village was composed of two main elements:

a) On the one hand, the farmers, artisans working quite easily, and, on the shores of the lake, the fishermen, usually associated, in general, good and simple people.

b) In addition, officials. The best known were the tax collectors whose duties often exposed them to ill-gotten gains. Among them were mostly collectors, in the service of Rome; they were assimilated to sinners as foreign agents.

E. The Pharisees The Pharisees or “separate” essentially formed a religious party. This party was recruited everywhere: rich and poor, confused with the title of “fellow,” passionate about every detail of the Law, taken in tow by the scribes, their bosses. Descendants of those pious men who, at the time of the Maccabees, vigorously resisted Hellenization and died as martyrs for their faith, they wanted to make more perfect the holiness demanded by the law, and this explains their immense credit among the people. Unfortunately, the same intransigence led them to a kind of sufficiency and contempt. They separated themselves from all that was impure, from tax collectors and, basically, from everything that was not a Pharisee. Adding legal deformation, it is understandable that they fell victim to the formalism and pride that our Lord stigmatized.

F. The Sadducees The Sadducees formed an aristocratic political party. At its head were the high priest and the principal members of the clergy and the secular world. Their main concern was to maintain their authority and privileges. They fit very well into the subject and some Roman Hellenism. They showed little caution of people who otherwise retained their sympathy for the Pharisees. They had little enthusiasm for messianism. They acted, observing what was necessary to avoid colliding with the public. They did not worry about calls and had no oral traditions of biblical teaching on the resurrection and future return.

G. The Sanhedrin The great Jewish institution was the Sanhedrin, a kind of senate (from the Greek word arameizada Sinedrión = “assembly”), which soon became powerful through Roman tolerance.

a) Composition It was composed of 70 members and a president, the high priest in office. The members were divided into three classes. The most important were the former chief priests and the chief priests. Then the elders or influential members of the lay aristocracy, all of Sadducean tendency. Finally, the doctors of the law, as doctors and lawyers, exerted a very active role in the deliberations, as Pharisees, representing public opinion and relying on the sympathy of the people.

b) Jurisdiction Theoretically, the Sanhedrin had jurisdiction over all Jews, even those of the dispersion. In fact, its competence was limited almost exclusively to Judea. It was a very high council and court of justice in civil and religious matters. The penalties imposed were executed immediately. Only the death penalty was reserved and was dependent on Rome. The sessions were held near the temple. Exceptionally, and in urgent cases, in the high priest’s palace, as was done with Jesus because the temple could not be opened at night.

H. The Roman Procurators Above the Sanhedrin were the leaders of Rome. After the government of Herod the Great and his children, the tetrarchs, came the regime of the Roman procurators, in the year 6 AD for Judea and Samaria, and 39 for Galilee. The attorneys resided in Caesarea, a Hellenic maritime city founded by Herod. They would go to Jerusalem only for large parties. Their escort then inhabited the Antonia citadel. The policy of the Romans was tolerant. The Jews were exempted from military service and were not required to sacrifice to the emperor. Religious life, meetings, pilgrimages, etc., were free. The Sanhedrin resolved all matters, religious, civil, and criminal, and the prefect intervened as seldom as possible, for example, in cases of capital punishment. Despite this, the oppression was felt. There were many riots caused by the bungling of the occupant, and the charging of taxes – leased by individuals and entrusted to the collectors – was always odious. From 26 to 36, Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judea. He committed many acts of violence and was dismissed after killing Samaritans.

Historical Evidence on the Person of Jesus

A. Pagan Testimonies: Hearsay about Christ

1. Tacitus, in his “Annals” published around the year 115, when speaking of the burning of Rome by Nero in AD 64, writes: “To quell the rumor (Nero) assumed guilty and refined tortures inflicted on those who were loathed for their abominations and the vulgar call them Christians. This name comes from Christ, who under the reign of Tiberius had been delivered to punishment under the procurator Pontius Pilate. Suppressed early on, that execrable superstition again manifested itself not only in Judea where the evil was born but also in Rome where everything infamous and shameful is flowing and sectarians.”

2. Suetonius, a Roman historian, in his “History of the Twelve Caesars,” writes around 120, speaking of the Emperor Claudius, who in 51 expelled from Rome the Jews converted under the impulse of Christ, in a case of permanent disorders.

3. Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor, asked the Emperor Trajan, circa 111, about the conduct he should have for Christians: The processes have not confirmed any crime to blame on the followers of Christ. “All their fault is limited to holding regular meetings on a fixed day before sunrise, each in turn to recite a hymn to Christ as a god and by oath not to commit robbery, adultery, not to miss the faith affidavit, in order to gather at dusk to eat ordinary food and innocent.” Christians have become so numerous that in the solemn temples are deserted, and meats offered to idols and are no buyers. No wonder he does not speak much of Christ, because Palestine was a province of little value in the Empire, communications were difficult, and often appeared new religions that soon ended.

B. Jewish Testimonies

1. Josephus, a Jewish historian, in his “Antiquities of the Jews” written around the year 90, writes: “By this time, Jesus appeared, a wise man, if man can be called, as he did amazing works… Many Jews and many Gentiles joined him (This was Christ). For the main complaint of the people, Pilate condemned him to the torture of the cross. But those who before had loved him, he remained faithful, as he appeared to them alive again the third day as the prophets had announced… Even now the caste of Christians who take their name from him, has not ceased to exist.” Some authors assume that this piece, at least in part, is not authentic, but Josephus in the same work alludes to John the Baptist and James, as “brothers of Jesus, surnamed Christ.”

2. The Jewish Religious Sources say much of the historical Jesus. The texts prior to the year 220 (Mishnah, Talmud, Midrashim) contain some evidence that may be historic, but they are worth more for what transpires than what they say directly. The data could be summarized by saying that Jesus of Nazareth lived in Palestine, made great signs (= practiced witchcraft), was a legislator (or mocked the law) and master (= says the Scripture). He was hanged on a tree on the eve of Easter. He had disciples (= seduced many) and they cured diseases in his name. Not sure of his birth (it seems he was the son of an unknown father, the illegitimate son).

C. Christian Testimonies

1. Matthew: The first Gospel is written by a collector named Levi. It presents very well the Church as the kingdom of heaven that Jesus founded. It recounts Christ’s teachings at length. It is interested in proving that Christ fulfilled the prophecies of Scripture. It shows how the salvation promised to the Jews is going to the Gentiles. It is the longest Gospel. It is intended that the earliest Gospel and the text we have is a Greek translation of the Aramaic original.

2. Mark: Gospel written by John Mark, interpreter of Peter. His style is anecdotal, picturesque, and irregular in composition. This gospel proclaims to the world the coming of the Son of God; everything is centered on the person of the Savior. This gospel is the shortest of the four.

3. Luke: Luke was a physician of Antioch, very thorough and accurate. He harmoniously ordered the deeds and teachings of Jesus and wrote in language generally distinguished. Disciple and companion of Paul. Luke knew and used the second Gospel and consulted memories of Mary and other disciples. He shows the merciful goodness of God to men. He highlights prayer, joy, conversion, and the universalism of the mission of Christ.

4. John: It is called the spiritual gospel; it recalls some facts about the life of Jesus and presents the religious aspect of them. John understood more than anyone else that every gesture or word of Jesus revealed his divine personality. John writes to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing, have life in his name. The 4th gospel was written when the previous three were already circulating, so some important facts are not told in it. In the preface, John makes an overture as the main themes of his gospel. This gospel is not a Christian initiation, but a book for Christians who want to deepen the knowledge of Jesus. It is considered the most historic of the Gospels as being the author an eyewitness to many of the events of Jesus’ life, especially their Easter: passion, death, and resurrection.

Jesus Christ: Yesterday, Today, and Always

Names of Jesus:

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1 .- The Annunciation: Mary, a virgin of Nazareth, you receive the message of the angel Gabriel to be the Mother of the Messiah by the Holy Ghost. God becomes incarnate, comes to belong to humanity. This mystery of the Incarnation of the Word is celebrated on March 25.

2 .- The Birth of Jesus born in Bethlehem to fulfill the Scriptures as Micah had foretold to be born in Bethlehem, the city of David. The birth during a census makes it in a manger and in crushing poverty. The angels announce to humble shepherds the great news: “To you is born a Savior who is Christ the Lord” (Lk 2, 11). God freely chooses to be born in poverty and surrounded by poor people from birth. “God chooses the weakness of the world to shame the strong, and the plebeian, the waste of the world, which is nothing, God chose to destroy what is” (1 Cor 1: 27 – 28). The birth of Christ brings joy to the world, that is what we celebrate on December 25.

3 .- Circumcision: For the 8 days is circumcised and named Jesus (Yahweh saves). It was a rite of initiation which became a part of the Jewish people. This time, Jesus shed his blood for the first time. On 1 January marks the mystery of Jesus.

4 .- Epiphany: Jesus is manifested to all men, East and West, Jews and Gentiles. Kings and wise men go to worship the newborn Child. Human kingship bows before the King of kings. This “manifestation” of Jesus is celebrated on January 6.

5 .- Presentation in the Temple: A 40-day Mary brought Jesus to the temple of Jerusalem to rescue pay 5 shekels, because according to the law of the people of God, being the firstborn belonged to God. This time Jesus is revealed as a sign of contradiction and announced the sorrows of Mary in his work of redemption. The Church commemorates this event on February 2.

6 .- Flight into Egypt: To save the life of Jesus to Herod, Mary and Joseph fled with Jesus to Egypt was the land where Jesus’ ancestors had lived in slavery and which had been saved by Passover of the Lord. Jesus suffers exile in a country idolatrous, and the death of Herod returns to Nazareth, because everything is done to fulfill the Scripture that said, “From Egypt I called My Son” (Mt 2, 15).

7 .- Jesus in the Temple; At age 12, going to celebrate Easter Jesus remains in the temple 3 days, while his parents were looking forward, to meet Jesus manifests the conscience of his sublime mission and dignity: “address of the things that belong to God, his Father. ” Throughout his life Jesus will be manifested, happy in the mission entrusted to his Father. This is the first time he wishes.

8 .- Adolescence: The Evangelist Luke emphasizes Jesus’ natural growth in their physical appearance, intellectual and moral. No further details of the evangelists on this period in the life of Jesus.

9 .- Hidden Life: We know nothing of Jesus from the 12 years to public life. The evangelist Luke tells us that there returned to Nazareth and was subject to Mary and Joseph. He was known as the Son of the carpenter. It is assumed that Jesus takes all this time studying the scriptures, especially the Psalms and prophets, of which demonstrates a proven expertise in public life.

10 .- Baptism of Jesus: John, a relative of Jesus, preached conversion and baptized in the Jordan. This is the last of the prophets. On this occasion, expressed the three divine persons: the Father, the Son who is baptized and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. After the baptism, John bore witness to Jesus, saying: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn 1, 29). The Church commemorates the baptism of Jesus on 13 January.

11 .- The public life of Jesus’ public life begins with the miracle at Cana (Jn 2, 1 – 12) and lasts for about 3 years. During Jesus’ public ministry is primarily focused on advertising, building and pray God’s kingdom through parables, miracles and prayers.

12 .- Easter: The most important of Jesus’ life is his passion, death and resurrection. St. Paul confirms this by saying: “If Christ had not died and risen, our faith would be useless.” The Passion of the Lord begins after the Last Supper, when he goes to the garden of Gethsemane. Understand their agony, imprisonment, religious and civil process. The Crucifixion (Mt 27, 32 -56 / Mk 15, 41 / Lk 23, 26 – 49 and John 19, 16 -30). The death of Jesus is the greatest act of love of God to men (Jn 15, 13). Jesus was buried and descended into hell to rescue from there to all the righteous dead before his Passion. With his death, Jesus opens the gates of heaven sealed by the sin of Adam. On the third day the Lord rose from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is the fruit of his death on the cross, his obedience to the Father. In the four gospels tells us with joy the visit to the empty tomb and the appearances of the Glorious Lord to the disciples to confirm you in faith … the risen Christ now lives “with the Father to intercede for us” (Hebrews 7, 25).

13 .- Ascension: 40 days after having risen and appeared to the disciples Jesus ascends to the glory of heaven. The ascension means the incorporation of the human nature of Christ to the hidden glory of the divine life. Christ no longer appear until the final day that involved come again in power and glory to consummate it.

Paul of Tarsus Paul of Tarsus (originally Saul) is considered the most important disciple of Jesus, although never met him, and after Jesus, the most important person in Christianity. Paul is recognized as the first communicator of Christianity and for this he used the media of that time: the letter, for that reason it is considered one of the most significant sources of the doctrine of the early church.Born between year 5 and year 10 in Tarsus, in Cilicia, on the southern coast of Asia Minor. The city of Tarsus was granted Roman citizenship. Son of Jews and a descendant of the tribe of Benjamin, in his teens is sent to Jerusalem, where he studied under the famous Rabbi Gamaliel. This joins the ranks of the Pharisees. After the death of Jesus, about the year 30, start to form groups of followers of Jesus. Paul of Tarsus was an active persecutor of these communities. In 36 he converted to Christianity, thanks to the Lord’s appearing. He began his Christian evangelization activity in Damascus and Arabia. He is persecuted by the Jews and flees to Jerusalem where he meets Pedro in 40. Barnabas then known. Flee from Jerusalem, escaping from the Hellenistic Jews. She takes refuge in Tarsus. Barnabas comes to late and leads Paul to Antioch, where he spent a year evangelizing. Antioch became the center of the Christian converts from paganism. Here first appears the name of Christians for the disciples of Jesus. From year 46 begin the three great missionary journeys.

On the first trip, along with his cousin Barnabas and John Mark, part of Seleucia, the port of Antioch to the island of Cyprus. In Paphos, converts to Christianity the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus. This is where Saul begins to be called Paul. Navigate to Perge in Pamphylia region. John Mark returns to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas continue through South Galatia. Are badly received by the Jews, and decide to head to the pagans. Create various Christian communities. Christians from Judaism posed the idea that these new Christians should also accept the Jewish laws, such as circumcision. Paul decides to raise the issue in Jerusalem on his return in the year 49, before the apostles. This led to the first ecumenical council, the Council of Jerusalem, AD 50. Paul won the position on justification by faith and the expiration of the Act

In the second missionary journey, Paul is accompanied by Silas. Antioch depart by land to Syria and Cilicia, into southern Galatia. In Lystra, Timothy joins them. Pass through the regions of Phrygia and Mysia. Apparently, they are joined at Troas Luke the Evangelist. He decides to go to Europe, and in Macedonia founded the first European Christian community: the community of Philippi. Also in Thessalonica, Berea, Athens and Corinth. He stays for a year and a half in Corinth, hosted by Aquila and Priscilla, Jewish-Christian marriage that had been expelled from Rome because of the edict of Emperor Claudius. In the winter of 51 years wrote the first letter to the Thessalonians, the oldest document of the New Testament. The following year he returned to Antioch.

In the spring of AD 54 began his third missionary journey, establishing his headquarters at Ephesus, capital of Asia Minor. Stay there for about three years. News reached him of the conflicts in the Corinthian community. Type the first letter to the Corinthians in 54 and the second letter to the Corinthians at the end of 57. In response to conflicts with the Judeo-Christian, writes letters to the Philippians (year 57) and Galatians. Goes to Corinth in late 57, where winters. Write a letter to the Romans, in the spring of 58. Then returns to Jerusalem to deliver the collection of Christian communities from paganism, for poor communities in Jerusalem.

Jews from Antioch is accused of violating the law and try to kill him in a brawl. The Roman tribune prevent being killed and imprisoned. Is sent to the province of Judea, where the Attorney Antonio Felix retained for two years (from 58 to 60) waiting to get a ransom for his freedom. Antonino Porcius Festus succeeds Felix as procurator of Judea. Paul appeals to his right as a Roman citizen to be tried in Rome. After an eventful trip, arrived in Rome in spring of 61. It is released in 63. His letter to Philemon is written in this period of captivity, between 58 and 63.

Had expressed their desire to reach Spain, which may be completed in 63. Apparently, after he visited the communities of the East. He was again imprisoned in Rome, where he died during the persecutions of Nero about the year 67. He was buried in Rome’s Via Ostiense.

THE FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH AND THE EXPANSION OF CHRISTIANITY

A. – The Foundation of the Church

* Some historians wonder whether Christ was really the intention of forming a community of believers around him, or if it is only a foundation of a group of religious fanatics who wanted to perpetuate the memory of a religious leader named Jesus.

* This question is interesting, since your response says, well, the divine origin of the Church, or that is merely a human institution. This has a further consequence in the moral and spiritual authority of the Church and in his conception of community made up of sinful men holy.

* The Church is born from the side of Christ on the cross, his side pierced by the soldier’s lance. From there came out blood and water = baptism and the Eucharist, two sacraments that “make the Church.” Just as Eve came from Adam’s side who slept in paradise, the Church comes from Christ’s side, the new Adam, who sleeps on the cross (cf. Fathers of the Church)

* Jesus expressly wanted to found a community of believers who continue to build God’s kingdom on earth. We see this in Matthew 16:18: “And I in turn tell you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”

* There are many answers can be given to the question “When did the Church? In the Fathers, from the time of Augustine, we find the idea of the church from Abel. Hermas speaks of the creation of the Church before all things, sees the Church as an old woman, created before all things and for her the world was created. The liturgy invites us to see the birth of the Church in the same Annunciation. The Second Vatican Council sees the opening of the Church in preaching the good news of Jesus (cf. Lumen Pentium 5)

* But in one sense, Pentecost is also that, if not the birth of the Church itself the beginning of his power. The theology of Luke in the Acts of the Apostles shows the development of the Church of the Holy Spirit (cf. AA 2)

B. – The spread of Christianity Many reasons are identified as causes of the rapid growth of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Among them:

– The news of the gospel, as news of the commandment of love

– The infrastructure of the empire that facilitated the rapid development of the Christian faith

– The evangelizing work of the apostles, especially Peter and Paul

– The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians